What makes for an amazing and iconic video game villain? Is it looks, evil laughter, or a singularly creepy name? Following the success of our previous podcast episode, “Our most memorable video game characters,” we are dedicating this show to the best video game villains of all time. Ars Technica Gaming Editor Kyle Orland joins host Social Editor Cesar Torres, Ars Contributor Casey Johnston, and Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson to discuss our favorite villains. We also reveal the top ten villains submitted by Ars readers (in an informal social media poll). You’ll never guess who makes it to number one.

Join us in this countdown and get ready to walk down memory lane again.

SHODAN is my choice of best villian. She is the ultimate evil AI that always has a backup plan for her back up plan to destroy all organic life. The way she taunts you through both System Shock games makes you hate her and leaves you with the feeling that you want to prove her wrong and stop her mad ambitions.

I also love Kefka in Final Fantasy 6. He's the joker of the RPG world.

Kefka FF3 and 6 in Japan... Devious, murder and also transcended to God status at the end of the game. Lunatic who became a God. I remember while fighting 3 forms of him before his angel/God body he would not only fight you but shoot at the Earth killing people. It felt like a fight for humanity.

Edit: one of the things that made that Final Fantasy stick with fans was that they added a new sound chip in the SNES that allowed for orchestrated music and some vocals. The ending was dramatic because the music and story matched. Its the same as going from SNES to Playstation 1 CGI. It sucked you in.

I would also have to have to toss in a vote for Kefka, though not just because he was so devious as many have mentioned. Simply put, Kefka actually *achieved* what most video game villains strive for. Final Fantasy VI has often received praise for the maturity of the themes it dealt with in a more innocent era of gaming (suicide, teen pregnancy, et cetera), but it also took the notion of "the good guy always stops the villain in time" and spun it on its head. Kefka rode a wave of mayhem and murder 'til the very end; the heroes weren't fighting to stop him, they were fighting to stand a small chance at rebuilding.

I hate to say it, but I'm having trouble thinking of a good modern villain that could be mentioned as a more recent counterpart to Kefka; so many newer games rely on silly plot twists and last-minute-reveals that either you have last bosses that were never developed, or awesome villains early in a game who get offed to prove a point (or to serve as the catalyst for the aforementioned plot twist). I was getting close to putting The Illusive Man into that category, but the last half of Mass Effect 3 just ruined his character (for me).

I almost want to cop out and point to Red Dead Redemption. I thought the ending of Red Dead Redemption was incredible. The game had no true "villain", in terms of a singular being. The villain in Red Dead Redemption was that little thing we call human life; and RDR's portrayal of it is what made the end of the game so great, for me. John Marston was run ragged by life itself; dishonest men, crooks, and a government that wasn't afraid to take advantage of a situation (and to go to extremes to keep a situation quiet). RDR never had a crazed villain trying to beat you in a race to acquire an ancient power and rule the world, but it still managed to make you feel like you had little hope.

I would also have to have to toss in a vote for Kefka, though not just because he was so devious as many have mentioned. Simply put, Kefka actually *achieved* what most video game villains strive for. Final Fantasy VI has often received praise for the maturity of the themes it dealt with in a more innocent era of gaming (suicide, teen pregnancy, et cetera), but it also took the notion of "the good guy always stops the villain in time" and spun it on its head. Kefka rode a wave of mayhem and murder 'til the very end; the heroes weren't fighting to stop him, they were fighting to stand a small chance at rebuilding.

I hate to say it, but I'm having trouble thinking of a good modern villain that could be mentioned as a more recent counterpart to Kefka; so many newer games rely on silly plot twists and last-minute-reveals that either you have last bosses that were never developed, or awesome villains early in a game who get offed to prove a point (or to serve as the catalyst for the aforementioned plot twist). I was getting close to putting The Illusive Man into that category, but the last half of Mass Effect 3 just ruined his character (for me).

I almost want to cop out and point to Red Dead Redemption. I thought the ending of Red Dead Redemption was incredible. The game had no true "villain", in terms of a singular being. The villain in Red Dead Redemption was that little thing we call human life; and RDR's portrayal of it is what made the end of the game so great, for me. John Marston was run ragged by life itself; dishonest men, crooks, and a government that wasn't afraid to take advantage of a situation (and to go to extremes to keep a situation quiet). RDR never had a crazed villain trying to beat you in a race to acquire an ancient power and rule the world, but it still managed to make you feel like you had little hope.

100% agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He did something that most couldn't do.. is achieve god hood from a mortal. In the game, he would kill espers for there magic, something ive never seen in any game. You never saw murder and the bad guy was always stopped. I can never forget that devious laugh he had.

Edit: what caught my attention, is that explained why magic left the world..but gave a glimmer of hope that it could still reside just faded away suppressed.

The Guardian from the Ultima series was pretty bad ass. First his booming voice was awesome and occurred in many parts of the game in Ultima 7: The Black Gate. Though you did not fight him at all, he was able to influence and control the denizens of Britannia from another dimension to form a new cult, and cause general mayhem that seemed to be the work of less powerful persons. In Ultima Underworld II, you find out that the Guardian has gone to other worlds and ruined them using similar tactics in Britannia. On top of that he causes a lot of trouble for the people at Lord British's Castle and the Avatar....Ultima 7: Part II, the Guardian tries to end all life across the universe by disrupting the "Balance". In Ultima 8, he makes the avatar (the main protagonist) betray his avatar ideals so that he can return 'home' to Britannia. You also find out more wickedness that the Guardian has inflicted upon the world of Pagan.Ultima 9, though very lame of a game, the Guardian was still a potent force to deal with. He has physically entered Britannia, and is set to destroy the world. Towards the end of the game, the Guardian really frustrates your achievements, emotionally setting up the player to really see him destroyed irrevocably. Unfortunately, the story and plot of Ultima 9 is a huge amount of sucktitude that all the events and lore that the prior Ultimas set up makes the ending of the series feel very unsatisfying.Nevertheless, the Guardian is a pretty powerful badass...

On another note, the Ultimas before 7, tended to have bad guys that were not main bosses to fight; especially in Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar. To win that one, you had to understand the Avatar concepts well.

Actually Arthas was pretty cool. He did show how The fall of Anaking skywalker could have been done right in Starwars3, Instead of the bodged bullshit we got. (Goody two shoes one minute, killing children the next, totally logical)

That whole game is incredibly dark and engrossing; you play the same character who became a Messiah figure in Ultima IV only to become a fugitive hunted by Blackthorn (usurper of the throne) and his entire empire in V, and I remember feeling a palpable sense of fear at being caught while sneaking around the world attempting to sew the seeds of rebellion.

Petty town guards are actually sympathetic to your cause. They're ordered to kill you on sight so they'll officially arrest you but let you "escape"... but if you're ever captured by Blackthorn's personal guards while sneaking into his castle late in the game, the interrogation and torture scene when you first meet him face to face, and the decisions you're forced to make (with very serious in-game consequences that can't be save-and-restored out of) is by far the most chilling episode I've ever seen in a game.

Blackthorn moves beyond stereotypical bad guy and into a very real, charismatic, sadistic, and desperate Naziesque territory. And he's a big fan of yours. He wants to be just like you at any cost.

I vote for Frank Fontaine/Atlas from BioShock. He made you do horrible things without questioning your actions, because of his deceivingly friendly phrase Would you kindly? he uses before every command.

Cesar Torres / Cesar is the Social Editor at Ars Technica. His areas of expertise are in online communities, human-computer interaction, usability, and e-reader technology. Cesar lives in New York City.